A. Y. Winters. Little Rabbit. Harriet Monroe, ed. Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912-22

Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. 1912–22.

Little Rabbit

By A. Y. Winters


From “Monodies” HE said: “Let the night
Sweep down with swirling gestures!
The nightwind leaps like a flame!”
And yet—
The firelight on the wall…..	5

“My heart is a cry in the night,”
He said,
“And all the world’s a dream!”
And yet—
The night sighs above me	10
Like the branches of a tree;
And it too wears a covering,
And, should it drop that covering,
Would doubtless rattle—
A gruesome skeleton…..	15

He said:
“You talk of peace—where is it?
The fire there
Has no peace. Now that choked sobbing—
Sobs caught low in the throat—	20
What does it want?”
And yet—
That is a shadowy crying
After things long forgot.
The fire moans to itself,	25
And leaps up without impetus,
And sinks—a spectral longing…..

Or—perhaps—is it
The fluttering of frightened hearts
Afraid to go?	30